Writing to members earlier this month to coincide with the start of a second consultative ballot, national official, Suresh Chawla said:

"We believe that the revised proposal is the best that can be achieved through negotiation and BECTU representatives felt that the revised offer was unlikely to provoke sufficient opposition amongst members to prompt a strike ballot, even though it fell far short of the original claim for 2009.

"We also want to reserve energy for fights over pensions, job cuts and changes to terms and conditions that may be on the horizon."

The proposed increase for 2010 is subject to the award which JCI receives from the BBC as part of it annual contractual review. The review process, which is underpined by the statutory uplift mechanism, provides for a minimum increase of 1% in the contract fee.

Ballot papers should be returned to BECTU head office no later than 12 noon on Wednesday 2 December 2009.